SKOKIE, Ill.—In 2006, the amount of energy required to produce one ton of cement decreased 1.1 percent, continuing the industry’s significant gains in energy efficiency during the last three decades.

The Portland Cement Association, an industry trade group, conducts an annual survey of energy use at U.S. and Canadian cement plants. In 2006, the amount of energy required to produce one ton of cement averaged 4.649 million Btu/ton.

The U.S. cement industry has adopted a voluntary target of increasing energy efficiency by 20 percent from a 1990 baseline by 2020. According to this most recent report, it is more than halfway there, with a 12 percent improvement from 1990 levels. Since 1972, overall industry energy efficiency has increased by more than 37 percent. 

PCA credits advancements in process technology, conservation measures, and greater use of alternative fuels for the steady gains. “It’s a mindset, an operating philosophy,” says Andy O’Hare, PCA’s vice president of regulatory affairs. “There’s no single solution. Plants are constantly looking at all aspects of their operations for ways to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions.”

In 2006, six cement plants were among the seventeen U.S. manufacturing plants honored with the first-ever Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Energy Star awards.  The plants were honored for their superior energy efficiency performance.

Energy efficiency is a key component of the cement industry’s voluntary climate change efforts. In addition to energy efficiency, the industry is working toward a number of voluntary environmental targets:

• To reducing CO2 emissions by 10 percent (from a 1990 baseline) per ton of cementitious product produced or sold by 2020.

• A 60 percent reduction (from a 1990 baseline) in the amount of cement kiln dust (CKD) disposed per ton of clinker produced by 2020.
  
  
• At least 40 percent of U.S. cement plants will have implemented an auditable and verifiable Environmental Management System (EMS) by the end of 2006, 75 percent by the end of 2010, and 90 percent by the end of 2020.
  
  

About cement, concrete, and PCA
Manufacturing portland cement, the key ingredient in concrete,  is a four-step process:

1. Most raw materials, including limestone and other native materials, such as sand, shale, iron ore and clay, come from quarries, usually located near the cement manufacturing plant.
   
   
2. The materials are carefully analyzed, combined and blended, and then ground for further processing.
   
   
3. The materials are heated in an industrial furnace, called a kiln, which reaches temperatures of 3,400 degrees Fahrenheit (1,870 degrees Centigrade). The heat causes the materials to turn into a new marble-sized substance called clinker. The kiln is fueled by powdered coal, powdered petroleum coke, natural gas, oil, or recycled materials burned for energy recovery.
   
   
4. Red-hot clinker is cooled and ground with small amounts of gypsum and limestone. The end-result is a fine gray-colored powder called portland cement. This cement is so fine that one pound of cement powder contains 150 billion grains.

About PCA
Based in Skokie, Ill., the Portland Cement Association represents cement companies in the United States and Canada. It conducts market development, engineering, research, education, and public affairs programs.

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